TELEGRAMS TO L. D. TROTSKY

Published:Source:Lenin
	  Collected Works,

      Progress Publishers,1975,

      Moscow,Volume 44,

      pages171b-172.Translated:Clemens DuttTranscription\Markup:R. CymbalaPublic Domain:Lenin Internet Archive.You may freely copy, distribute,
	display and perform this work, as well as make derivative and
	commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet
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Trotskyat his present whereabouts

Permis in a dangerous
plight.[3]I consider it essential
to send reinforcements. Petrograd can provide regimentsof Soviet poor peasants, there are two of them there, or
others, at the direction of the Revolutionary Military
Council. We propose that you give the appropriate
directives as quickly as possible. We propose that you point
out to the Revolutionary Military
Council[1]the
tremendous importance of Kizel District of Perm which supplies
coal to the factories and the entire railway. The loss of
Kizel will halt traffic.

Allcoded13. XII. 1918

TrotskyVoronezhor present whereabouts

Newsfrom around Perm is extremely alarming. Danger
threatens it. I am afraid we forgot about the Urals. Bring
pressure to bear on Vatsetis without fail and check
whether he is sufficiently energetically providing
reinforcements for Perm and the Urals. Lashevich told Zinoviev
that only blooded units should be sent.

[1]TheRevolutionary Military Council of the Eastern Front.—Ed.

[2]Thetelegram was signed also by Sverdlov.—Ed.

[3]Towardsthe end of November 1918, Kolchak’s troops, possessing
considerable superiority in strength, launched an offensive against
the 3rd Army of the Eastern Front with the aim of uniting with
the interventionist troops in the north. After heavy defensive
battles, the 3rd Army was forced to abandon a considerableterritory. The causes for the defeat were: poor supply of clothing, food
and ammunition to the army units, lack of the necessary reserves,
contamination of some army units by counter-revolutionary
elements owing to the violation of the class principle in the
formation of units, shortcomings in the army leadership on the part of
the commander, M. M. Lashevich, and the Revolutionary Military
Council of the army.

Onthis subject see also this volume, Document 242.